Academy of Country Music Awards: Photos and Behind-the-Scenes Chatter From Country’s Return to Vegas

variety.com:

Chris Willman Music WriterIt was as if the Academy of Country Music Awards put up a dare to the upcoming Grammys: Not only are we going to do a show out of Las Vegas a month ahead of yours, but we’re going to do at a stadium, we’re going to do it with four stages, we’re going to do it with no commercials (except for plenty of Prime Video trailers), and we’re going to bring it in at 2 hours, 1 minute and 24 seconds.The ACMs may not have been “Music’s Biggest Night,” but it was Music’s Most Concise Night.“We’re making history tonight,” host Dolly Parton said at the top of the show. “For the first time, we’re coming to you from Allegiant Stadium, and for the first time, we are streaming on Prime Video” — and, although it went unsaid, the truly historic part was not having a network or even cable broadcast component for a major awards show. “So in other words, we’re going around the world.

What happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas.” The ”world” part was not lost on the night’s performers and winners. As Variety talked to stars on the red carpet, one thing that repeatedly came up in any discussion about the switch from broadcast to streaming for the ACMs was the idea that, whatever audience might not find its way to Prime Video, having the show seen simultaneously by international audiences would be a boon for country music’s growing global market.But if there are many devils in the details there, most of the audience was more interested in the details of Dolly’s dress than shifts in viewer demographics and whether streaming is indeed the future of awards shows. “I wanted to shine tonight.

Did I make it?” Parton quizzed the crowd, saying “a disco ball fell on me” in a corridor. “I’m just hoping nothing punctures me or I’m.